IPPL, Mumbai Chapter presented "Different Strokes" - poem recital by young poets in Mumbai on 20.10.2019

Defeated by love at first sight.

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Diversity is the essence of democracy and the stance on it can be best taken on the front of language. Love and friendship regain their strength whenever a verse is written. All the human beings on this earth have the same feelings. . Language is just a vehicle to carry the feelings that are invariably the same for the whole humankind.

And looking at our country, hundreds of popular languages exist here and all of them contain the stamp of Indian ethos and culture. Until and unless we come across this diversity at one platform how can we appreciate the singularity of this Indianness  in the plurality of the languages?  And the endeavour of IPPL Mumbai Chapater (Intercultural Poetry and Performance Library) must be applauded in  this pious objective.

The first event of IPPL (Intercultural Poetry and Performance Library) Mumbai Chapter took place on the 20th of October, 2019 at the Library of The Club, Andheri in Mumbai.  The event was titled as  "Different Strokes- Poems by the young and young at heart”. 

The Founder and President of IPPL Mumbai Chapter, Dr. Paramita Mukherjee Mullick in her welcome address described how she started this chapter. 

One more attraction was Tejus Coulagi a young poet who also anchored the event very deftly. It was a multilingual poetry session with poems in Maithili, Hindi, Telegu, Marathi, Kutchi, Gujrati, Avadhi, Brijbhasha, Bengali and English. There was a line of wonderful poets, Bhaskar jha, Shashi Dhambare, Aarti Saiya, Rajeev Mishra , Mohan Krishna and Akshay Sonthalia. 

Shashi Dhambare' s Marathi poems were full of emotions. Avadhi and Brijbhasha poems sung by Rajeev Mishra were a hit. Mohan read out his Telegu poems and Akshay Sonthalia his English ones. Tejus requested Dr.Paramita to read a Bengali poem and he himself read his English ones. The VP of IPPL Mumbai Chapter Dr. Shamira Abdulla talked about the importance of multilingual poetry sessions in promoting poetry. 

Shashi Dhambare' s Marathi poems were full of emotions. Avadhi and Brijbhasha poems sung by Rajeev Mishra were a hit. Mohan read out his Telegu poems and Akshay Sonthalia his English ones. Tejus requested Dr.Paramita to read a Bengali poem. 

Hemant Das 'Him' of Bejod India blog was also present in this event.

Here we are presenting in full or parts, the poems read by the poets -

R.J. Aarti saiya "Hiranshi" read her Gujarati and Kuchchhi poem. Given below is the part of her Kuchchhi poem- 

પાં મણે કચ્છી અયું ને પાં ત 

પાંજે  મઠડે કચ્છ  જા  અયું 

ઘાંટી રોડ મેઠ્ઠી છાય જા ઓન્યા 

ને મેળાવે જા પાં ભોખ્યા અયું

ખારી ભોમ ને મન્ઢે મીં મેં પણ 

મેઠ્ઠી બોલી કે પોખીન્ધલ અયું

Paan made kutchhi ainyun

Ne paan ta paanje mathade kutchh ja ainyun

Ghatti rod methhi chhay ja onya
Ne medave ja paan bhokhya ainyun

Khari bhom ne mandhe min me pan  

Methhi boli k pokhindhal ainyun

Saiya read one more poem in Gujarati-
માતૃભાષાની આરતી
આજે ઉતારું માતૃભાષાની આરતી
માતૃભાષી શાળાઓની આરતી
શિક્ષકો અને શિક્ષિકાઓની આરતી
વાલીઓની આરતી,વિદ્યાર્થીઓ અને
વિદ્યાર્થીનીઓની આરતી
માતૃભાષી ગણવેશ, પ્રાર્થના અને
પ્રતિજ્ઞાની આરતી
જેથી ગદ ગદે ગિરા ગુર્જરી ભોમ ભારતી
આજે ઉતારું માતૃભાષાની આરતી
Matru bhasha ni aarti
Aaje utarun matru bhasha ni aarti
Matru bhashi shalao ni Aarti shikshako Ne Shikshikao Ni Aarti
Valio ni Aarti
vidhyarthio ne vidhyarthiniyo ni Aarti
matru bhashi ganvesh Prarthana Ane Pratigya Ni Aarti
Jethi gad gade Gira Gurjari bhom Bharti
Aaje utarun matru bhasha ni aarti

Tejus Coulagi read an English love poem that really suited the title of the event "Different Stroke" The whole poem is presented below-

Out of the closet, into the street

The phone starts to ring
The alarm starts to beep
I get my costume out of the closet
And get into the street

Some new super villain
Is terrorizing the town
So I rush to its center
To take the monster down

As I get to ground zero
I see smoke, dust and cars
I see a crash landed rocketship
Has this villain come from Mars?

I look out for a giant tentacle
I scan the scene for a nefarious claw
I announce my presence in a loud voice
"I command you to stop in the name of the law!"

And then I see the villain
Just look at that face
She turns to me and smiles
Freezing my heart in place

And so this intrepid hero
Here for a big fight
Finds he's lost before he even started

Defeated by love at first sight.

Then there was Bhaskar Jha, a miraculously dynamic tri-lingual poet. He read his poems in Hindi and Maithili . Hindi Poem (तुम्हारे न होने से) by Bhaskar Jha was s a surrealistic expression of romantic longing of loving life sublimated in form of a soothing creativity with a tone melancholy; with philosophical insights into love-filled life. This is in fact in a tone of melancholy-
तुम्हारे न होने से
लगता है तुम्हारा न होना
ये नजदीक दूरी--
और अधिक बहुत खलती है,
बढ जाती है बेधड़क
तब संग हो जाने की चाहत
'हाँ ' औऱ 'ना'
के बीच झूलने लगता है
हमारा अस्तित्व
चंद पर्द रंगीन ख्वाब लिए.....
न होने
और होने के बीच में
हम दोनों होते हैं लेकिन
तुम नहीं होती
मैं नहीं होता --
सब कुछ होने में भी तो कुछ नहीं होता
जब मैं होता हूं तुम्हारा
तुम से होता हूं मैं
तब हम एक ही होते हैं
एकाकार
निराकार
इस गोलाकार धरती पर
क्योंकि
अंदर का अस्तित्व कभी दिखता नहीं
नंगी आंखों से
पर तुम्हे देख लेता हूं
मन दर्पण में
अब तुम्हे देखना है
इसलिए
तुम्हे दे रहा हूँ आंखें अपनी
जब भी मेरा जी चाहे
तुम्हे देख लेने देना इन्हें
जी भर कर
मैं यहीं से देख लूंगा तुम्हे
तुम्हारा भाव लेकर
मैं तो बस तुम्हें
अपने शब्दों से सजाता हूं
अक्स तुम्हारा
उकेर कर निहारता हूं
मन ही मन गाता हूं
फुरसत मिले तो तुम
सुन लेना मुझे
अपने ही सहर्ष स्पर्श स्पंदन में.

Maithili poem - (भाव नीक राखू स्वभाव नीक राखू) is an exhortation calling upon the people to have good heart and sound mind in the world. In this world of variety and complexities everything is futile and transient except the purity of heart, serenity of mind and ethos of humanity with social-moral mores, values and ideals.

Maithili poem by Bhaskar Jha

Akash Naik presented his Gujarati poem whose picture is given below-

The Vice President Dr.Shamira Abdulla talked about how multilingual poetry events promote poetry. The young Krisha Shah one of the coordinators in her vote of thanks expressed  how Dr.Paramita has worked hard to bring all the poets together and make this event a success. 

......

Presented by -  Hemant Das 'Him'
Photographs by - Bejod India blog
Email for response -  editorbejodindia@yahoo.com
Note - Those participants whose lines of peom or clear picture could not be added in this, can send them on the above email ID. They can also be added.